Florian

225 Park Avenue South

(between 18th Street and 19th Street)

Christmastime is here!!!

And what better way to celebrate the holidays and cap off a year of visiting high-end pizza joints, but with Florian—another restaurant specializing in Neapolitan pizza.

The restaurant was also festively decorated in honor of the holiday season!

To continue with the festive spirits, we started off with drinks.

My friend ordered the sparkling prosecco rosé (foss marai, Veneto), which was served in a beautiful glass. Sparkly indeed!

 

I ordered the Pinot Noir 2013 lo triolet (Valle d’Aosta). A very drinkable and not a heavy red.

 

For dinner, we decided to share all of our dishes and Florian made it easy as they serve their meals family-style.

As a starter, we went with the roasted beet and heirloom tomato salad, which came with baby kale, red sorrel, burrata, celery leaves, and basil. Delicious! One interesting side note: It was served on a plate that was very similar to the plate style of Marta (the Italian pizza restaurant I reviewed back in May 2015).

 

We then ordered a small pizza: the Prosciutto di Parma and arugula with burrata mozzarella and parmesan cheese. The flavors worked wonderfully well together. One slight quibble though—the crust was so thin it seemed like we were eating matzoh bread. It literally crumbled when you picked it up, and it was hard to eat with a knife and fork as prosciutto is hard to cut!

We also ordered a small portion size of the spaghetti and short rib meatballs with Sunday gravy. My friend had a hankering to try their short rib meatballs as it was offered on several of their menu options so it must be a specialty. Very good and perfect as small portion as not sure I would want it as a full-sized entrée.

For dessert we had the cheesecake with strawberries and chocolate sauce ($12). So glad we ordered it to be shared as it’s dense and super rich. I can’t imagine one person eating it all in one sitting.

Best of all, at the end of our meal a server came by with a tray of freshly made chocolate chip cookies. We were so full, but how can anyone pass on fresh-made cookies!

 

Overall, the service is impeccable, the décor is lovely, and the food is delicious. What better way to celebrate the holidays!

 

Pros:

Relaxing atmosphere.

Good food and family-style restaurant.

Friendly service.

Cute bathroom!

 

Cons:

Pizza crust is too thin.

Final Thoughts

Must return to try out their whole lobster (yes, WHOLE lobster!) pizza.

The Bao

13 St. Marks Place

(between Cooper Square and Astor Place)

Located directly above Spot Dessert Bar. I’m sure many first went to dinner at The Bao and then headed downstairs to Spot for dessert.

I confess that my friend and I did the exact opposite.

We were wooed by the soup dumplings and the restaurant’s quirky décor.

 

We of course ordered the Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao (6 dumplings). The dumplings were small and thin-skinned. But unbelievably the skin was strong enough to not break open when picked up with the tongs. Perhaps it had to do with the dumpling’s small size?

 

 

I hate it when the juice spills out onto the dish before it can even get on your soup spoon! But not in this case. It held together and the soup was warm as opposed to burning hot, which is another concern of mine whenever I order soup dumplings.

 

We also had an order of turnip puffs (4 pieces) as I LOVE turnips. Unfortunately, it was way too greasy and was definitely in need of a dipping sauce.

 

We shared a bottle of Crabbies (an alcoholic ginger beer from the UK). I had never had ginger beer before, so wanted to sample. Glad I tried it, but would not order again.

Pros:

Very good soup dumplings.

Nice atmosphere.

Above Spot Dessert Bar.

Cons:

Rather small restaurant, so think it might get very crowded during prime lunch and dinner time hours.

Final Thoughts

Will definitely go back for their soup dumplings!

Spot Dessert Bar

13 St. Marks Place

(between Cooper Square and Astor Place)

A tapas dessert bar? You betcha! And the desserts offered are whimsical and delicious.

It’s $9.75 per dessert, but they offer Tapas Sets, which I highly recommend.

We ordered the 3 tapas set for $25.45, which was perfect for two to share.

And we went for three of their signature desserts:

First up the Chocolate Green Tea Lava Cake (warm dark chocolate cake filled with green tea ganache, green tea ice cream). Probably the most sophisticated of the three we ordered. And the fact that the “lava” is both the dark chocolate and the green tea ganache is pretty cool!

The second dessert was the Golden Toast (crispy honey-buttered toast, fresh strawberries, whipped cream, condensed milk ice cream), which is basically ice cream with French toast. But the condensed milk ice cream is what made this dessert. Could eat a whole pint of it!

The must-try option would have to be The Harvest (layers of berries, soft cheesecake, meringue kisses, raspberry sorbet, black rose milk tea). The presentation is everything. And when the dessert is placed on the table, the server tells you to water the plant with the black rose milk tea (LOL!). Very fun!

It looks like you're eating dirt!

They don’t offer alcohol, but they do offer Bubble tea! I ordered the Spot Milk Tea (which can also be served hot) and I drank it to the last drop.

My friend ordered the Bubble Tea Iced Green Tea Latte (which can also be served hot). But don’t think she liked it much as she still had over half her drink left in her glass.

Please note that it might be easy to miss the dessert bar, as you have to walk down a few steps to get in.

There’s also another Spot Dessert Bar on the same block (I guess to handle spillover from the primary location?), located a little further west, but this “spot” has a bit more character and personality. There’s also another Spot location on the top floor of the Food Gallery 32 in Koreatown, which I must try as well.

Pros:

Great dessert options.

Cons:

Small restaurant, which fills up quickly.

No alcohol (as some of the desserts would pair well with a red wine).

Final Thoughts

Will definitely go back as I want to try every item on their menu!

Ootoya (Greenwich Village Location)

41 East 11th Street

(between Broadway and University Place)

Was in the mood for Japanese food, but not for sushi or ramen. I was searching for Japanese comfort food, and Ootoya was the perfect spot.

The restaurant is a bright and open space and gets crowded quickly. I arrived for lunch on a Saturday afternoon a few minutes after opening, and the restaurant quickly filled up with a lot of families.

I was very surprised to see on a Saturday afternoon how many parents were there with very young children (some even infants!). And the restaurant definitely caters and encourages a family-friendly environment as I saw servers immediately provide a child-sized plastic cups with superhero characters as well as “Hello Kitty!” cups for water glasses.

For us adults, we were immediately given a warm wet towelette upon seating. The table setting was minimal and I appreciated the lovely little chili pot.

 

My friend and I both ordered the Miso Tonkatsu “Teishoku” (Japanese “meal set”). The “meal set” comes with rice, miso soup, homemade pickles, and a steamed egg custard.

The Miso Tonkatsu is a breaded and deep-fried pork loin and cabbages served in a rich Aka-Miso paste, topped with a poached egg. It is served warm in a hot pot.

 

Verdict: Delicious!!! The miso sauce is not too spicy and the poached egg was not too runny. I licked the plate empty!

The miso soup was also excellent. As opposed to most miso soups which are served with just small pieces of tofu, scallion, and seaweed, Ootoya’s came with pork and vegetables! I could have had a giant bowl of that and had that as a meal!

 

 

I only had two bites of the steamed egg custard and knew immediately it wasn’t something for my palate. I think I was expecting something sweet, but it tasted like warm, watery egg whites.

 

To celebrate the holiday season, my friend ordered an Italian prosecco (Veneto Villa Sardi). Dry and bubbly.

And I ordered the Yuzu x Poochi Poochi ($9.00), which is defined as yuzu “with a scent of sweetened and carbonated sake.” I normally am not a fan of sake cocktails, but this was surprisingly refreshing.

Pros:

Great service.

Great food.

Cons:

Does not accept reservations.

Gets crowded quickly, but the staff do not rush out patrons.

Final Thoughts

Will definitely go back and want to also try their other locations in Chelsea and Times Square.

Dallas BBQ (Early Bird Special)

261 Eighth Avenue

(corner of 23rd Street)

Have not gone to BBQs for years.

So was pleasantly surprised by their Early Bird Special: two full meals for $11.99 (so it comes to a little over $6.00 per person)!

The full meal comes with: chicken vegetable soup, rotisserie half chicken served with cornbread and potatoes or yellow rice. Honey or barbecue-basted for an extra dollar.

The chicken vegetable soup was hearty and very good.

I chose to have my chicken honey-basted (for the extra dollar) and ordered fries as my potato option. As you can see, a lot of food! The honey basting was a bit too sweet for my liking, so will probably order just plain rotisserie next time.

And as I was in a Dallas BBQ, I had to order one of their famous frozen drinks. I went with the waitress’s suggestion of the Tsunami (I can’t recall the various types of alcohol, but I believe it contains quite a bit of rum). Very fun and tastes like a slushie. So be careful. These sweet drinks can sneak up on you with the alcohol content!

They also served cute, complimentary pumpkin cupcakes at the end of the meal (not shown, as I immediately popped mine in my mouth before remembering to take a pic!).

Pros:

Great deal if one is hungry.

Fun frozen drinks!

Cons:

Early Bird Special is available for DINE-IN ONLY.

Mediocre food.

Final Thoughts

Will only go back for the Early Bird Special.

Jun-Men Ramen Bar

249 Ninth Avenue

(between 25th and 26th Streets)

Winter is coming. So it’s ramen time!!

Jun-Men just recently opened and they are still working out the kinks. However, that doesn’t seem to deter customers. Wait times can be as long as 45 minutes to an hour. Knowing that, I made sure to go when it opened for dinner: 5 p.m. on a Saturday night.

Like many noodle bars, the space is small—I think it can only seat about 40 to 50. As a matter of fact, it’s easy to miss. I’ve walked past it in my travels dozens of times and I always mistaken it for a Japanese hair salon. But unlike traditional noodle bars, the décor is modern and minimalistic.

The menu is also minimalistic.

Along with the dishware.

 

For starters, we ordered the fried sweet potatoes with maple bourbon butter and umami mayo. The bourbon butter on the fries made it good enough to eat without the umami mayo condiment. It seems to be a fave, as I noticed that every other table also ordered the fries.

 

We also tried the pork bun appetizer—pork belly, pickled cucumber, and hoisin sauce. It came with a serving of two, so perfect for sharing. Must note, that I’ve had better. Perhaps I should have ordered the BBQ pork bun.
 

 

As far as the ramen, my sister ordered the kimchi ramen with roasted pork shoulder, egg, kimchi, and scallion, which came in a large bowl. She slurped up the noodles and had so much soup left that she decided to take up the waitress’s suggestion of an extra order of noodles ($2).

 

I ordered the restaurant’s signature dish. The uni mushroom mazemen. It’s uni, roasted pancetta, porcini butter, truffle oil, fried shallot, and scallion. As it’s a dry ramen, it doesn’t come with soup.

 

The taste is interesting and I am glad that I tried it, but I think a little bit of uni goes a long way, so I didn’t need a whole bowl of it.

For drinks, surprisingly Jun-Men does not offer wine or tea?!? Hopefully, that will be rectified soon??? So in the absence of wine, I ordered their lychee cucumber sake-tail.

 

Too cucumber-y for me.

 

A better option was their beer offering. Ordered the Sansho ale, which paired well with the ramen.

Pros:

Delicious ramen.

Excellent fried sweet potatoes!!

Cons:

No tea?!? Isn’t that sacrilegious for a Japanese restaurant?

No wine.

Small, tight space.

Final Thoughts

Will return to try their regular pork bone ramen.

Would also like to try sitting at their “ramen” bar, which is seating in front of the kitchen and watching the cooks prep the food.